Mary Peters, the country’s secretary of transportation during the second half of the George W. Bush administration, will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Transportation Research Board’s annual meeting in Washington in January.

Her passion for improvements in the transportation system nationwide during her tenures in Bush’s Cabinet, as an agency leader in Arizona and in the private sector helped earn her the 2019 Frank Turner Medal, according to TRB.

The principal of Mary Peters Consulting Group before her role as secretary, Peters was the top officer at the Federal Highway Administration. She arrived in Washington after nearly two decades with the Arizona Department of Transportation.

Background about Peters compiled by TRB noted she was credited with “spearheading efforts to identify new ways to invest in infrastructure, and she was a tireless advocate for the use of new technology to reduce construction time while saving taxpayer dollars.”

In 2004, she was recognized by Women’s Transportation Seminar, or WTS International, as “National Woman of the Year.”

The 98th TRB will take place Jan. 13-17 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington. Peters is scheduled to be recognized at the annual meeting’s Chair’s Luncheon on Jan. 16. Established in 1998, the Frank Turner Medal for Lifetime Achievement in Transportation is awarded biennially.